Building environmental facilities in places where it is most needed

Middlefield Projects

Building landscapes is building futures

I am a dedicated project manager with 10 years of experience

Building landscapes is building futures. The construction of a road, a vegetable garden with irrigation systems or an environmental enhancement is the start of something new and something better. It builds confidence and helps people believe in a better life. My name is Martin Middlefield (Maarten Middelveld). I dedicate my environmental design and civil engineering skills to help people in need to start building their future.

Designing & building long-lasting environmental projects that contribute to people’slives is my passion. I have years of experience in project management of large construction projects in the Netherlands. Now, I use this knowledge in places around the world where it really makes a difference.

Responsibility, trust, action and compassion are my core values that I integrate in each single project. As a project manager, I am involved in the start, construction and final phase of each project. In my view a project is only finished when everyone knows exactly how to integrate and use the new system, construction or space. The smile on people’s faces upon completion of the project, is priceless. The future of the end-users is about to begin!

I like use this knowledge in places around the world where it really makes a difference. Interchanging these projects in the Netherlands as well.

Civil Engineering

Garden Engineering

Landscape Engineering

Environmental Design

Projects

Creating a self sustaining orphanage

Vegetable garden in Mozambique

Zimpeto Children’s Centre, located near Mozambique’s capital city, Maputo, is home to around 300 children, 30 missionaries and 150 full and part-time staff. The base serves not only the needs of resident children but also the poorest of the poor from the surrounding areas. In 2010 we improved the Small farm providing food for the kitchen and skills training for the youth.

The Farm Project at Zimpeto Children’s Centre began in July 2009. Since they had a good-sized plot of unused land at the back of the Centre, they realised they had a great opportunity to feed the 260 kids from their own garden if they could work out how to do it properly. Together with a agriculture specialist from Australia interested to help with the project and to fund the set-up. Since then the farm has produced great quantities of quality fruit and vegetables that are used in the Centre kitchen each week.

The farm is set it up as “Garden School” where many of the youth who live at Zimpeto learn as they work, gaining experience for potential future income-raising for themselves and their families. They grow greens and veggies according to the season and according to what they eat the most there at Zimpeto. We’ve planted beetroot, silverbeet, corn, lettuce, spinach, cucumber and carrots. We’re also growing mango trees, orange, papaya and pineapple. The newly harvested pineapples are huge!

They keep things simple, using the most basic farming techniques possible so that the boys, when they leave the Centre, will be able to use what they learned to start their own farms. Middlefield assisted with this project in building the garden and teach the users about it.

Building a road into desolated areas

Road construction in Africa

The roads in Africa can be very challenging especially during the rainy season and most can only be driven with extreme care in a 4×4 vehicle. The construction of a new road – whether from asphalt or concrete – requires the production of an excellently bonded pavement structure, beginning with a stable base layer and going all the way to a precisely levelled surface course. This project focused on upgrading and paving of the road to bitumen standards all the way from the city to the outback. The work consisted of upgrading the road from gravel to Bitumen standard, with 7m-wide carriageway of asphalt concrete surfacing. This project was done with local workers and machinery. Skills as teamplaying and Dutch engineering were a warm welcome in this project. So nice to see that today it possible to drive with normal cars, motors and bicycles over this African beautiful road.

Re-meandering the river Niers

Changing rivers in Germany

The Niers is a river in Germany and The Netherlands. The Niers flows through Mönchengladbach before flowing into the Meuse just across the border with the Netherlands. A large section of man-made, heavily engineered channel has been returned to its original meandering course to restore a more natural, healthy river. A river meander is a U-form taken by the river, allowing it to decrease water velocity. In the past, rivers have been straightened by cutting off meanders. Many rivers in northern and Western Europe have been straightened and channelized to, for example, facilitate log floating and/or speed up the drainage of water and control/limit the river bed movements. We build this new form of the river channel to create new flow conditions and give also a positive impact on sedimentation and biodiversity. The newly created meanders also provide habitats for a wide range of aquatic and land species of plants and animals.

Pools, shallower stony areas, and gravel bars and beds are developing, enabling a variety of fish species to thrive. The white waters of the Niers have now returned and the habitats created are helping wildlife to flourish.

Realization of recreational homes on inclined terrain

Landal Greenparcs

Landal Greenparcs Eifeler Tor lies on a 60 meter high hill in Heimbach Germany, surrounded by a breath-taking view on the Rur river in a National Park. Special challenges of this two year taking project were the sewage and cable systems in a very rocky soil. Drilling and cutting rocks for roads and buildings was a really new experience. The project was done in a project team with a lot of stakeholders and investors. We did it! Thanks to the team and our client we build a high exclusive holiday park. In this nature around Landal Eifeler Tor, everyone can relax in his or her own way. Proud to have been part as a project manager of this project.

Building a tunnel under the highway Nijmegen-Arnhem

Bicycle tunnel Nijmegen

It looked a bit as a mission impossible. In just eight days’ time a 45 meter long bicycle tunnel beneath a highway which traffic could still move in both directions! Thanks to a State-of-the-art logistics cooperation we did it! As a result, it was possible for the participants of the biggest multiple day walking event of the Netherlands to pass this highway safely. It had been a stumbling block for the municipality Nijmegen for a long time as this busy crossing, was unfamous for his insufficient flow of traffic and unsafe conditions. As this concerned an integrated contract I was involved in basically all aspects of the project ranging from design, implementation to communication with residents and all other stakelholders.

The extremely short realization time of eight days only of the tunnel took a precise logistical planning. “This project was marked by a great complexity,” and in order to realise it within eight days there was no room for any error whatsoever. Proper communication, building a temporary road, taking into account the proximity of a river (Rijn) and many more aspects were seamlessly executed.

Letting others speak for me

What my clients say

A really great experience

In the period as colleague I have knowd Maarten as a dedicated and very customer-oriented project manager, who like to think ahead and be well prepared. However, if the situation asks to improvise and to act pragmatically, he quickly switches on and remains to place the customer and employee in the centre. The cooperation with Maarten as colleague was more than good. Proper joint alignment and the ability of both sides to help each other. A fine, intensive and very pleasant cooperation!

- Sjorsj Amkreutz

Trustworthy and powerful

As a project manager, infrastructure at the municipality of Maastricht, I have worked for a long time with Maarten intensively cooperate. Important projects were the construction of the parkingarea and parc of ''Fort St. Pieter'' in Maastricht and the construction of a long distance bicycle route network in the municipalities of Maastricht, Meerssen and Valkenburg a/d Geul. During the construction of these projects I have experienced Maarten as a very professional project manager representing the interests of the client always comes first in difficult situations he suggested creative and knowledgeable to the good solution. The personal commitment to the project and the positive way of communication and dealing made Maarten to a very experienced project manager.